Such excitement. After yesterday’s post Susan and I were hanging out reading and watching a movie in our room with the warm afternoon Wangdue wafting in from the balcony. As luck would have it, I walked into the bathroom at the instant our geyser (hot water heater) short-circuited and burst into flames. Susan ran down to the lobby to get help. I grabbed the towels underneath the fire so they, too, wouldn’t catch fire and then unplugged the heater. In retrospect, this was not the brightest idea with only a hand-towel for insulation. We’ve heard of many big fires in Bhutan’s history (many Dzongs have met this fate) so we weren’t all that surprised when nobody was really acting fast. After Tinley found a fire extinguisher that didn’t work he stepped up and started running to bring another. Susan and I hung around outside our toxic smoke-filled room with only our passports while Susan tried to impress upon the crowd that they needed to pick up the pace a bit. Fire out and a re-visit from the cleaning staff and we were all settled back in. They probably would have given us a new room if not for the fact that the Dragon’s Nest was full-up with kids from a foreign highschool in Bangkok. Pretty unusual since most nights we have been the only tourists in our hotel. This meant that the Dorji boys did not get a room at the hotel but they told us not to worry - most nights during high season they stay in the “japanese guesthouse”, their toyota corona. At breakfast Susan and were told that we slept through an earthquake. Susan joked that all we need now is a plague of locusts and a flood.

We spent the morning driving back to the capitol, Thimpu, then had our best meal so far (which is not saying much - the food is bland), lunch at a Bhutanese restaurant. We bailed on the afternoon plan of a hike up to the Tango Monestary (a Buddhist college) cause we couldn’t face the hour drive to get there and opted instead for a walk-about in town where we shopped like mad-women. While walking to the weekend market I snapped this photo of a truck the likes of which pepper bhutan’s roads. They are adorned with Buddha eyes, auspicious symbols, Buddhas, images of Guru Rinpoche, Green Taras - you name it - and a quite festive looking. Some even have tinsel fringe.

Tonight, we spend our last night together dining with the tour company owner and Susan’s new guide who will take her back to Paro for her flight back to Delhi. The Dorji boys and I are heading south for 7 hours (!) to Phoentsoling (pronounced fent-so-ling) from which I will post tomorrow if there’s internet access.

Sue Borchardt in Thimpu, Bhutan. February 25, 2006 at 6:14 p.m. where is a perfect 72

Here’s Susan’s post from yesterday…

Hello All,
We have been in Central Bhutan the past few days where internet usage has been expensive and slow. Now we are back in Western Bhutan where it’s still dial-up - but cheaper…so here’s a little update…(please remember to visit www.sueborchardt.com for more!)

We skipped a day in Central to head back to the sunny western area. After a slightly harrowing 6 hour mountainous drive we arrived in Wangdue (Ongdee) again. What a beautiful place. After vising a circa 1400 Dzong (Temple) we talked the Dorji Boys (our guide and driver) to take us to the “beach” — a local river with a beautiful span of white sand. Apparently, strolling along the beach isn’t much of a past time here. It seemed the be the first time our guys have done this! They literally frolicked - it was a joy to watch them having so much fun. We walked and sat and took in the spectacular view. Sue noticed folks up on the road stopping their cars to look at us - we were quite the spectacle. The only other people down by the river were women washing clothes.

As I sat on the sand I realized that less then 4 weeks ago I was sitting on the sand in Long Beach, California gazing out over the Pacific Ocean. I was feeling enormously privileged and blessed. Later I thought - I wonder what I did in my past lives to deserve this life now. It must have been something really good.

So we are drowsy now from the sun (it was over 80 degrees!!) and are taking it easy for the afternoon - vacation is hard, man!

Tomorrow we head back to the capitol - Thimpu - for one last night together. Then Sue faces a 6 hour drive to the Indian boarder, and I will spend a night alone at a palace (!) in Paro. I fly to Delhi on Sunday morning and leave for Newark, New Jersey Monday night 11:45 India time. I land in Newark at 5 am Tuesday. Since my BWI-Newark flight was cancelled because of the snow when I left Baltimore - I have my car in NJ. After a rest, I’ll drive home Tuesday afternoon.

I plan to spend my last 2 full days in Delhi either by the pool (!) or shopping in the local market. Delhi will be quite a shock after this sparsely populated peaceful country. I hope all of you can come here one day - it’s simply a treasure.

So I hope all of you are well. We will email again tomorrow from Thimpu with photos.

Much love to all,

susan

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